Catherine Ryan Howard

I have both the paperback of the second edition of this guide and the Kindle version of the third edition, but for this review I read the third. It is quite a meaty volume packed with information on the author's journey through self publication which spells out how to do the process yourself following in her footsteps. Allowances have to be made for the fact that things have moved on a bit, for example, CreateSpace has been superseded by Amazon KDP's own paperback printing service. So I would have had to deduct a star just because some of the information is now out of date. However, the bulk of the book would still be a fantastic resource for self publishers if not for a big problem.

As I discovered last year when reviewing her collection of blog posts, after becoming a traditionally published thriller writer, the author pulled everything to do with self publishing from her website, so the many links that would have provided explanations, references, etc are gone. This massively reduces the usefulness of the guide. Not only that, but also even the sole reference to the fact that she had ever been self published has now been expunged from the 'about' page on her website since I previously checked it in late June 2021. As well as totally transforming the website, she removed all ebook versions of her earlier books from Amazon (only second hand paperback copies are now available). This leaves a rather odd feeling when reading a guide which espouses the cause of self publishing so energetically, especially when the author makes it clear how much she still enjoyed blogging in 2014 when this edition was published, and that she would never give up doing it. I used to receive her emails and judging by the last one received, her final blog entry was dated 26 July 2019 so I must assume that she ceased blogging after that date.

Given all this, I'm afraid I must deduct an additional star giving an overall rating of 3 stars. People wanting an up-to-date guide which has live links to a wealth of useful material would be far better off reading David Gaughran's free 'Let's Get Digital' (fourth edition) which I awarded a full 5 stars.… (més)

Lucy wants to know what has happened to her sister Nikki. She disappeared a year ago and there is no sign. Alongside Nikki other women have also disappeared without a trace. Operation Tide is formed as all the women have something in common with their disappearance. Detective Denise Pope is on the case alongside Angela a support staff member.

I have read a books by the author before and have enjoyed them enough to read any new book without knowing anything about it. This book I enjoyed but it's not one of my favourites by the author.

The story held my attention and is loosely based on a real case in Ireland. The story follows each character and the abductor which gives insight to what is going on. I wouldn't say this book is a twisty thriller but does have a satisfactory twist at the end of the book.

I have enjoyed this book enough to still continue to read more by the author in the future.… (més)

This earned all sorts of "Best Book" awards back in 2021 - I wish I understood why! There's almost no action, the characters are unoriginal and not particularly interesting, the psychology is rudimentary, the writing is pedestrian, and the plot twists just aren't that twisty - in fact, I suspect anyone familiar with the genre will see them coming from a mile away.

Though billed as a "thriller," nothing thrilling actually happens - just a couple of mild surprises that fail to deliver any sort of gratifying emotional or psychological impact. Even the "gimmick" of setting the action during Covid is oversold: besides providing a bit of narrative convenience (an excuse to closet the two characters in a room for a couple of weeks), the author doesn't even try to leverage the crisis to introduce any meaningful novelty or suspense. What a missed opportunity!

Finally, this is simply waaaay too long: if you read the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages, you can skip the150 pages in the middle without losing a single bit of critical information or character development. First dates are cringy to begin with - the last thing I want is to wade through 100s of pages of lame "getting to know you" dialog, retold over and over again, that doesn't even end up contributing in a meaningful way to the denouement.

After 56 days and 364 pages, the only genuine mystery here is how this wowed so many critics. What am I not getting?… (més)